Disney Magic cruise: Western Caribbean (Dec 7-14th)
Instead of doing a day by day log, I thought I would group items into headings, that way if you dont want to read it all you can jump ahead to what you do want to read.
Traveling
Myself (30-something), my husband (40) and our ds (12)
Arranged our own air through American and flew in day prior. Stayed at the Radisson at the Port and rented an Avis car from airport. Return trip we did the Disney transfers to airport.
Air: Flying in day prior for anyone west of the Mississippi is a must! We were an hour late leaving Denver and I would have been a wreck if we were trying to make it to the port in time to catch the ship. Flying in a day prior alleviated most of that stress (note: I said, most)
Radisson at the Port: Not exactly your cleanest hotel, but very pretty and it was comfortable. We had a one bedroom suite using the FALL/VISIT FL rate and it was nice to have the whirlpool bath. Only major problem for me was listening to the people upstairs run their whirlpool at 1 am! Very noisy! We had dinner at Kelseys Pizza which is right next door to the Radisson. Incredible food and great service! It cost us less than $20 for pizza and drinks for the three of us. The next morning we had breakfast at Perkins down the street. Cost much more and the food wasnt that great. We turned in our car to Avis and hopped the Avis shuttle to the port. Very easy and smooth.
Embarkation: We arrived at the Port about 10:45 and walked right up to the desk. We were checked in and standing in line in about 5 minutes. They did give us a letter regarding the recent outbreaks of Norwalk on the ship and asked that if we had experienced any of the symptoms to kindly not board the ship. We were second in line to board the ship and they let us on at about noon. We were announced which was cute as they had not done that on our previous Wonder cruise. Then we were able to take our carry ons to our room. We ate at Topsiders and as we were some of the first on board there was only about four or five people on deck when we were eating. It was almost like having the ship to ourselves!
Ports: Key West: We disembarked and walked over to Clinton Square to find a treat to take home to my girls (ok, they are my dogs but I call them my girls), then went to the Conch train station and bought tickets. Tickets were about $20 a piece, $10 for ds. (Saved us $76 over taking the tour via Disney.) The tour is about an hour and half and very informative! I would definitely take the train over the trolley as it is open air and Key West was hot, even in December. The one thing I noticed was the amount of derelicts and homeless sitting in open doorways and they had the nasty habit of making snide comments when the train went by. Not something I really wanted to expose my son to!
Grand Cayman: Took the Land and Sea Island Tour. Have you ever seen the Kodak commercial where the two young gals are in Italy and they hire a cab driver to show them the sights? Well if you have, you know what this tour is like. For those that dont, picture a tour at 55 mph where the guide points to things like Theres our Texaco where we get our fuel.. Then we were taken to the dock where we boarded a catamaran and taken out to another boat where you walked downstairs and sat on benches. They had a diver that fed and played with the stingrays and brought them by the windows we were viewing out. Not very interactive, but certainly fine for those of us squeamish about being in the water with the beasties! We also had about five minutes at Hell and at the Turtle farm. Was this trip worth $55 per person? Ah, No! The positives of Grand Cayman for me were seeing the care that Disney took with our tendering. They are the only cruise line that offers shaded waiting and drinks served.
Cozumel: Ok, this has got to be my favorite port! We did the Tropical Jungle Jeep tour and it was simply awesome! Our guides were Federico and Nain (pronounced like nine). They escort you from the pier to their parking lot and then it is a free for all for jeeps. We were left with no jeep, so Federico pitched out their stuff and gave us the guide jeep! Then he rode with us to the first stop which was the Pee Pee station. Yes, that is the name and it is mainly a building with sub-par bathrooms and tacky souvenirs. But, on the return trip I was extremely glad for those bathrooms sub-par or not! LOL
After the Pee Pee station you travel another ten or so minutes on paved road before you turn off to off road. Trust me folks, if you have a bad back, weak kidneys, are pregnant, or just dont like to be jarred around, choose another tour, because you WILL be bounced around. We had a blast though. Dh drove and he made sure to hit every pothole, washboard and puddle (read: lake) that the road offered. Our son (who, I might add, did NOT want to go on this tour) had the most fun of all! They stop you about mid-way and have you put it in four wheel then you head to a Mayan ruin. On the return trip you all stop at a beach and are allowed about an hour and half to eat (they serve a pretty good buffet of Mexican food) and swim. The current is pretty strong, so saying body surf is more accurate than swimming. About 4 oclock we all headed back to the Pee Pee station (this is where I was very glad for the bathrooms. LOL) and then back to the parking lot and back to the ship. I will mention that all the jeeps were newer models, but man, were they beat up! Our jeep had the service engine light on the entire time and one couple said they had a red light on their dash. Our guides were very relaxed about it and said: No problemo, welcome to Mexico. I dont think there is much that frazzles the Mexican people, they are very relaxed. I liked that approach.
On the way back to the parking lot we also found out that our lights only came on when the brakes were applied. (No problemo, welcome to Mexico) LOL
I want to add an additional note on this one: We arrived back to the ship about 6 pm and were covered in mud in sand so had to clean up. Needless to say, we missed our 6 oclock dinner seating. About 9 pm, we got a phone call from Gonzalo, the Head server asking if we were ok and if there were any problems? It seems our dear server, Shawn, missed us and was worried that something happened! Now, thats service!!!
Castaway Cay: What can be said about Paradise? We were off the ship about 10 and had no problem finding chairs and umbrella right near the ocean. We just walked until we were right in front of the childrens play yard that is out in the cove. I will mention that this is the first time we had proof that there was sickness on board as a family right in front of us was trying to disembark and were being denied passage. The crew member told them that they were still on isolation and they needed clearance from Guest services to disembark. They also had medics combing the beach with plastic gloves on and walkie talkies. I saw them escort two people back to the ship. I wont get on my soapbox here, but I will say that I feel Disney handled all this as well as can be expected. The ship was spotless and they were very proactive in getting people to wash their hands before meals. I was not happy that questions about the sickness were met with evasiveness, but I am sure that Disney was trying not to cause a panic or to have people all of a sudden feel ill and expect compensation. Of course, if I remember right, the letter we read on embarkation mentioned that IF you chose to board, it was at your own risk and no compensation would be given if you were to fall ill. We did also see people disembark at Cozumel, but didnt put two and two together until we heard the comments on Castaway Cay. Enough said.
Entertainment: Hercules, the museical: What can I say? I love this show! Hades and his monologues are great. Pain and Panic steal the show. I dont think kids understand most of the innuendos and jokes, but for adults it is good entertainment. Hades did add a couple of things just for kids this time. Like his Oops, I did it again reference.
They did a caroling and tree lighting, and might I add the decorations were simply beautiful!
We saw the premier of Treasure Island. (I thought they had premiered it before, but they said it was the Premier). We saw the Santa Clause 2 and Sweet Home Alabama and Lilo and Stitch in the theater. They were also playing: Signs, Tuck Everlasting and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but who had time to watch all these movies?
Food: What can I say here? I am no connoisseur, but it was ok. Our servers more than made up for the food. Shawn from Canada and Colin from Trinidad-Tobago were awesome! They really took our son under their wing and taught him napkin tricks and magic tricks and brought him anything he wanted. On disembarkation day, my son asked for a donut and Shawn said they didnt have them in the dining room, but they did have them upstairs and ran off. A few minutes later he reappears with a donut! He had to have run up to Topsiders to get it! We didnt dine at Palos didnt want to. Our character breakfast was cute, but I got better pictures than the ships photographer. The characters will stick around long enough for you to snap their pic and then they are off!
Kids Club: In the words of my son: It rocks! They were kept busy from 9 am- midnight (although ds had an 11pm curfew). We had very strict rules for ds as I did not want him roaming the ship. He was to report to the Lab and stay there for the times he said he was and then have them page us when he was headed back to the room. We always called the lab to check up on him and he was always there. He always beat the page back to the room too! We had two way radios and used them the first day and at Castaway Cay, other than that the pager worked best. Special thanks to his counselors: Ian, Stephanie, Dwayne, and Pete. I am sure there are others, but I think they made the most impression on ds. He was pretty sad to leave the ship this time. On the Wonder, he would never go to the Lab, on the Magic we couldnt get him out of it!
Disembarkation: Had breakfast in Parrot Cay for a last farewell to Shawn and Colin and then headed off the ship. Yes, it really is that easy. We were off the ship, checked our bags and headed to the airport by 8:15! We had an early flight so this worked well for us.
Miscellaneous Thoughts: I know this is really long, and I apologize, but there is probably a lot I am leaving out. I just wanted to add some extras:
We did not take, nor did we need, the over the door hanger.
The two ways were pretty much worthless as you couldnt hear anything and we had the top of the line ones.
You dont need HALF of what you pack.
Dont even TRY to fix your hair and expect it to stay. Hot and humid are a bad mix for hair.
It doesnt matter what movies are playing on board, you wont have time to see them anyway.
Dont over obsess on the small details as things will never work as perfectly as you think or hope.
Take the little things with a grain of salt. If the majority of the vacation works go with it.
Dont think you will do it all youll be lucky with half!
No one and I mean NO ONE can beat Disneys service and general care for their passengers. We have cruised several other lines and they never were as friendly or as proactive when we had a problem. There wasnt a crew member on that ship that did not smile at us and ask if we were having fun. On the first day, we walked into our stateroom and the metal threshold broke, tripping my dh. I called guest services and the first question was: Is your husband hurt? Yes, I know you are probably thinking that Disney was looking out for their own interests in case dh was hurt, but I know sincere, and the CM was sincere in wanting to know if he was hurt first. They had the door fixed within the hour and called to check up on it.
Our weather was perfect and the seas relatively calm most of the week. Even if they arent, make the best of it you are on vacation!
Meeting up with the Dis board members was a special treat. It was great meeting AnnMorin, OutrageousCrew (tresha), Webmasters Michelle and Alex, and Dagny. Sorry I didnt get to party with you at Offbeat on Thursday, I dont remember where we were, but I am sure we were having fun!
Sorry this got so long, but I hope it helps. If you have any questions, just ask.
Happy sailings!
Lisa
Instead of doing a day by day log, I thought I would group items into headings, that way if you dont want to read it all you can jump ahead to what you do want to read.
Traveling
Myself (30-something), my husband (40) and our ds (12)Arranged our own air through American and flew in day prior. Stayed at the Radisson at the Port and rented an Avis car from airport. Return trip we did the Disney transfers to airport.
Air: Flying in day prior for anyone west of the Mississippi is a must! We were an hour late leaving Denver and I would have been a wreck if we were trying to make it to the port in time to catch the ship. Flying in a day prior alleviated most of that stress (note: I said, most)
Radisson at the Port: Not exactly your cleanest hotel, but very pretty and it was comfortable. We had a one bedroom suite using the FALL/VISIT FL rate and it was nice to have the whirlpool bath. Only major problem for me was listening to the people upstairs run their whirlpool at 1 am! Very noisy! We had dinner at Kelseys Pizza which is right next door to the Radisson. Incredible food and great service! It cost us less than $20 for pizza and drinks for the three of us. The next morning we had breakfast at Perkins down the street. Cost much more and the food wasnt that great. We turned in our car to Avis and hopped the Avis shuttle to the port. Very easy and smooth.
Embarkation: We arrived at the Port about 10:45 and walked right up to the desk. We were checked in and standing in line in about 5 minutes. They did give us a letter regarding the recent outbreaks of Norwalk on the ship and asked that if we had experienced any of the symptoms to kindly not board the ship. We were second in line to board the ship and they let us on at about noon. We were announced which was cute as they had not done that on our previous Wonder cruise. Then we were able to take our carry ons to our room. We ate at Topsiders and as we were some of the first on board there was only about four or five people on deck when we were eating. It was almost like having the ship to ourselves!
Ports: Key West: We disembarked and walked over to Clinton Square to find a treat to take home to my girls (ok, they are my dogs but I call them my girls), then went to the Conch train station and bought tickets. Tickets were about $20 a piece, $10 for ds. (Saved us $76 over taking the tour via Disney.) The tour is about an hour and half and very informative! I would definitely take the train over the trolley as it is open air and Key West was hot, even in December. The one thing I noticed was the amount of derelicts and homeless sitting in open doorways and they had the nasty habit of making snide comments when the train went by. Not something I really wanted to expose my son to!
Grand Cayman: Took the Land and Sea Island Tour. Have you ever seen the Kodak commercial where the two young gals are in Italy and they hire a cab driver to show them the sights? Well if you have, you know what this tour is like. For those that dont, picture a tour at 55 mph where the guide points to things like Theres our Texaco where we get our fuel.. Then we were taken to the dock where we boarded a catamaran and taken out to another boat where you walked downstairs and sat on benches. They had a diver that fed and played with the stingrays and brought them by the windows we were viewing out. Not very interactive, but certainly fine for those of us squeamish about being in the water with the beasties! We also had about five minutes at Hell and at the Turtle farm. Was this trip worth $55 per person? Ah, No! The positives of Grand Cayman for me were seeing the care that Disney took with our tendering. They are the only cruise line that offers shaded waiting and drinks served.
Cozumel: Ok, this has got to be my favorite port! We did the Tropical Jungle Jeep tour and it was simply awesome! Our guides were Federico and Nain (pronounced like nine). They escort you from the pier to their parking lot and then it is a free for all for jeeps. We were left with no jeep, so Federico pitched out their stuff and gave us the guide jeep! Then he rode with us to the first stop which was the Pee Pee station. Yes, that is the name and it is mainly a building with sub-par bathrooms and tacky souvenirs. But, on the return trip I was extremely glad for those bathrooms sub-par or not! LOL
After the Pee Pee station you travel another ten or so minutes on paved road before you turn off to off road. Trust me folks, if you have a bad back, weak kidneys, are pregnant, or just dont like to be jarred around, choose another tour, because you WILL be bounced around. We had a blast though. Dh drove and he made sure to hit every pothole, washboard and puddle (read: lake) that the road offered. Our son (who, I might add, did NOT want to go on this tour) had the most fun of all! They stop you about mid-way and have you put it in four wheel then you head to a Mayan ruin. On the return trip you all stop at a beach and are allowed about an hour and half to eat (they serve a pretty good buffet of Mexican food) and swim. The current is pretty strong, so saying body surf is more accurate than swimming. About 4 oclock we all headed back to the Pee Pee station (this is where I was very glad for the bathrooms. LOL) and then back to the parking lot and back to the ship. I will mention that all the jeeps were newer models, but man, were they beat up! Our jeep had the service engine light on the entire time and one couple said they had a red light on their dash. Our guides were very relaxed about it and said: No problemo, welcome to Mexico. I dont think there is much that frazzles the Mexican people, they are very relaxed. I liked that approach.
On the way back to the parking lot we also found out that our lights only came on when the brakes were applied. (No problemo, welcome to Mexico) LOL
I want to add an additional note on this one: We arrived back to the ship about 6 pm and were covered in mud in sand so had to clean up. Needless to say, we missed our 6 oclock dinner seating. About 9 pm, we got a phone call from Gonzalo, the Head server asking if we were ok and if there were any problems? It seems our dear server, Shawn, missed us and was worried that something happened! Now, thats service!!!
Castaway Cay: What can be said about Paradise? We were off the ship about 10 and had no problem finding chairs and umbrella right near the ocean. We just walked until we were right in front of the childrens play yard that is out in the cove. I will mention that this is the first time we had proof that there was sickness on board as a family right in front of us was trying to disembark and were being denied passage. The crew member told them that they were still on isolation and they needed clearance from Guest services to disembark. They also had medics combing the beach with plastic gloves on and walkie talkies. I saw them escort two people back to the ship. I wont get on my soapbox here, but I will say that I feel Disney handled all this as well as can be expected. The ship was spotless and they were very proactive in getting people to wash their hands before meals. I was not happy that questions about the sickness were met with evasiveness, but I am sure that Disney was trying not to cause a panic or to have people all of a sudden feel ill and expect compensation. Of course, if I remember right, the letter we read on embarkation mentioned that IF you chose to board, it was at your own risk and no compensation would be given if you were to fall ill. We did also see people disembark at Cozumel, but didnt put two and two together until we heard the comments on Castaway Cay. Enough said.
Entertainment: Hercules, the museical: What can I say? I love this show! Hades and his monologues are great. Pain and Panic steal the show. I dont think kids understand most of the innuendos and jokes, but for adults it is good entertainment. Hades did add a couple of things just for kids this time. Like his Oops, I did it again reference.
They did a caroling and tree lighting, and might I add the decorations were simply beautiful!
We saw the premier of Treasure Island. (I thought they had premiered it before, but they said it was the Premier). We saw the Santa Clause 2 and Sweet Home Alabama and Lilo and Stitch in the theater. They were also playing: Signs, Tuck Everlasting and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but who had time to watch all these movies?
Food: What can I say here? I am no connoisseur, but it was ok. Our servers more than made up for the food. Shawn from Canada and Colin from Trinidad-Tobago were awesome! They really took our son under their wing and taught him napkin tricks and magic tricks and brought him anything he wanted. On disembarkation day, my son asked for a donut and Shawn said they didnt have them in the dining room, but they did have them upstairs and ran off. A few minutes later he reappears with a donut! He had to have run up to Topsiders to get it! We didnt dine at Palos didnt want to. Our character breakfast was cute, but I got better pictures than the ships photographer. The characters will stick around long enough for you to snap their pic and then they are off!
Kids Club: In the words of my son: It rocks! They were kept busy from 9 am- midnight (although ds had an 11pm curfew). We had very strict rules for ds as I did not want him roaming the ship. He was to report to the Lab and stay there for the times he said he was and then have them page us when he was headed back to the room. We always called the lab to check up on him and he was always there. He always beat the page back to the room too! We had two way radios and used them the first day and at Castaway Cay, other than that the pager worked best. Special thanks to his counselors: Ian, Stephanie, Dwayne, and Pete. I am sure there are others, but I think they made the most impression on ds. He was pretty sad to leave the ship this time. On the Wonder, he would never go to the Lab, on the Magic we couldnt get him out of it!
Disembarkation: Had breakfast in Parrot Cay for a last farewell to Shawn and Colin and then headed off the ship. Yes, it really is that easy. We were off the ship, checked our bags and headed to the airport by 8:15! We had an early flight so this worked well for us.
Miscellaneous Thoughts: I know this is really long, and I apologize, but there is probably a lot I am leaving out. I just wanted to add some extras:
We did not take, nor did we need, the over the door hanger.
The two ways were pretty much worthless as you couldnt hear anything and we had the top of the line ones.
You dont need HALF of what you pack.
Dont even TRY to fix your hair and expect it to stay. Hot and humid are a bad mix for hair.
It doesnt matter what movies are playing on board, you wont have time to see them anyway.
Dont over obsess on the small details as things will never work as perfectly as you think or hope.
Take the little things with a grain of salt. If the majority of the vacation works go with it.
Dont think you will do it all youll be lucky with half!
No one and I mean NO ONE can beat Disneys service and general care for their passengers. We have cruised several other lines and they never were as friendly or as proactive when we had a problem. There wasnt a crew member on that ship that did not smile at us and ask if we were having fun. On the first day, we walked into our stateroom and the metal threshold broke, tripping my dh. I called guest services and the first question was: Is your husband hurt? Yes, I know you are probably thinking that Disney was looking out for their own interests in case dh was hurt, but I know sincere, and the CM was sincere in wanting to know if he was hurt first. They had the door fixed within the hour and called to check up on it.
Our weather was perfect and the seas relatively calm most of the week. Even if they arent, make the best of it you are on vacation!
Meeting up with the Dis board members was a special treat. It was great meeting AnnMorin, OutrageousCrew (tresha), Webmasters Michelle and Alex, and Dagny. Sorry I didnt get to party with you at Offbeat on Thursday, I dont remember where we were, but I am sure we were having fun!
Sorry this got so long, but I hope it helps. If you have any questions, just ask.
Happy sailings!
Lisa
Thanks for the great report, I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed the jeep in Cozumel so much, I knew you were looking forward to it. I'm sorry we didn't see more of you but glad you had such an excellent time. 
